After two-year analysis that delved into brand-customer social media engagement along with transaction data lead to their findings, the research showed engaging customers via social media increased sales by 15% to 30% compared with brands not using any social media.

If any of this makes your head hurt, the giste of the story is that social media is very, very good.

This really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone because social media has proven to be an innovative and revolutionary tool for marketing, communications, branding and advertising.

The most telling and revealing part may be that even the smallest amount of activity (i.e. releasing a short statement as per the article), can make a huge difference compared to its offline counterpart.

These findings along with some others should inspire brands to focus more effort in social media. While offline tactics can still resonate, social media is providing significant dividends at a much lower cost.

What do you think about this study? Are you now more primed to engage users via social media?